It'll be a refurb. It's very rare that they have you a brand new phone unless you've repeatedly had problems with the refurbs. It's extremely unlikely that you'll have an issue with the refurb though as they are very stringent in their refurbishing process. Each refurb gets a new front, back, steel band, and battery.

It'll be a refurb. It's very rare that they have you a brand new phone unless you've repeatedly had problems with the refurbs. It's extremely unlikely that you'll have an issue with the refurb though as they are very stringent in their refurbishing process. Each refurb gets a new front, back, steel band, and battery.

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How do you know it gets new front back and steel band? My iphone 4 replacements always had a nick over the steel band and the genius wouldnt exchange it over a scratch

Apple gives out "Remanufactured" iPhones. It sounds like marketing fluff, but it's actually quite different from refurbishing a device.

Apple basically takes a faulty iPhone (like you might do with a device you were going to refurbish), but they put all of the working components into a new external case (so it should have NO cosmetic damage or wear/tear) and fit a new battery into the device. Any faulty components are not transferred and the device is thoroughly tested.

Generally with a refurbished device the manufacturer only fixes whatever was broken in the original device, meaning that you end up with a battery that might be in poorer condition or a device that has cosmetic damage from the previous owner.

Apple tends to have quite high satisfaction rates with these replacement devices because of this

Note that this applies to replacements obtained from Apple Support - either over the phone/internet or in an Apple Store.

It doesn't bother me that Apple hands me a refurb/remanufactured device. I had my 4S replaced last week and I couldn't be happier. There is a small mark in the white plastic between the glass and the antenna, but that's a small annoyance I'm willing to deal with. The overall construction is much better than my original and the phone doesn't shut off on its own!

I wouldn't complain too much about the refurb they had you at the genius bar. What other phone manufacturer freely swaps out devices?

Apple says that there could be up to 2 but no more than 2 previously used INTERNAL parts on a service replacement device. BUT, the mass of them are new, and the chances of getting a device that has ANY used parts in it is slim.

Call that whatever you want, but its not fit to call it refurbished. Refurbished means that the entire device was owned by someone else before you basically, and the service replacement phones do not fit this guideline.

In any case, no other phone maker gives out whole unit replacements for free like apple does, so to complain about the process is pretty stupid. Your old phone didn't work... here another one that does... oh BOO HOO.

Call that whatever you want, but its not fit to call it refurbished. Refurbished means that the entire device was owned by someone else before you basically, and the service replacement phones do not fit this guideline.
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Wrong. There are no refurbishing guidelines or standards or definition that all companies follow. Most refurbished items are returned items that are tested, faulty parts replaced and made to look new as cheaply as possible-new outer casing, etc. Problem is the refurbing a lot of times is bid out to the lowest bidder. This is how many bugs or faulty parts pass the refurbishing process. If a part is not DOA most likely it won't get replaced.

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